Latest Career Advice Insights

As an academic, you may feel somewhat insulated from the profit-driven business world. Certainly, academia has traditionally been regarded as an enclave separated from corporate concerns over profits; one which is supported by governments and individuals and focuses on teaching and research rather than on making money. However, with the huge growth of the education industry over the last few decades, institutions have necessarily become more corporate.

A popular activity among PhD students, particularly for those in structured programs, is a journal club. This is a regular meeting at which PhD students gather together to read  and discuss a journal paper from their field. These meetings can be a fun and educational addition to a PhD program, and today we're discussing how you can make the most of the opportunities presented by these meetings. Keep yourself informed and up to date

Open access publishing – that is, a system whereby authors pay a fee to a journal to make their research publicly available for anyone to read, for free – has become more and more common in the last years.

If you're working as a professor, you likely have a large number of projects on the go and a lot of demands on your time. It can be hard to keep track of everything, but there are tools out there which can help you. If you have a smartphone or tablet, there are some great apps available which can make your work life a little easier: Dropbox

For lecturers and professors, there are a wealth of technological tools to assist with teaching and class management. These tools can help to make the organisation of classes easier, and allow students to access materials that they need electronically. We've found some of the best tools for you to use in the classroom to help make your teaching more organised and more interactive. Moodle

Open access refers to materials which are publicly available without restrictions on access or reuse. To publish your research in open access means that anyone, including other researchers and the public, will be able to read your paper in its original form. In order to support this free access for users, journals which publish open-access charge a fee (often in the region of several thousand Euros) to the authors. But, this cost comes with advantages. Today we're looking at the case for making your research available in open access form. For the public good

One part of the PhD process that students are not always aware of when they begin is their role in the supervision of bachelors or masters students.

If you've completed your PhD and are looking for a postdoctoral position, career progression can be intimidating and stressful. To help guide you through this transition, we offer here a guide for finding and applying for postdoctoral funding.

When applying for a academic position as a researcher, lecturer or for a fellowship, a cover letter is usually required to accompany your CV. Stating your particular interest in the role, and showing how your experience enables you to excel at the job, is the aim of a successful cover letter.

When planning to pursue a PhD, one of the most important decisions you must make is to choose a supervisor for your project. A supervisor supports you and advises you in your research, helps you with your career development (for example by introducing you to relevant people in your field and suggesting conferences that you should attend), and provides encouragement to you throughout your PhD.

A relatively recent degree subject of Behavioural Sciences is now being offered by universities across Europe and North America. As an interdisciplinary undergraduate course, it offers the chance to study the interface of psychology, sociology, cognitive science and anthropology. Giving  students a broad understanding of perspectives on human social interaction, courses often include teaching topics such as critical reading, experimental methodologies, gender and race studies and healthcare provision.

Starting out a new role as a PhD student or postdoc will often be demanding and involve a steep learning curve. This is especially true if you have moved into a new discipline or field than you have worked in previously. With different approaches to research, learning and assessment than that which you have experienced before, it can take some effort to adjust to a new setting.

With your courses completed and your master’s thesis ready to hand in (weeks before the deadline, of course), all you have left to do is confront that little decision you’ve been putting off all year (or two for most European Master’s?). You know the one – what are you going to do with your life after you have completed your Master’s degree?

Networking is a concept which is somewhat alien to many academics – you may well have heard how important it is to create an interactive network with other researchers in your field, but it's hard to know how to get started. Some people have a negative view of networking; thinking that it involves being deceptive or finding a way to turn every conversation around to yourself. But it needn't be that way! Successful networking is all about putting you in touch with other like-minded academics or professionals with whom you share interests.

Business schools are an increasingly prominent force in higher education across the US, Europe and beyond. With more and more students look to study business, the career opportunities for teaching business students are growing. For professors with expertise in economics, social sciences, management and more, teaching at a business school can make an attractive career prospect.

A great way to make your presentations or papers slick and memorable is to improve your graphs and diagrams. The standard graphs produced by software such as Excel or SPSS  can convey the required information, but tend to lack style as these tools have limited customisation options. Other software exists for the singular purpose of configuring your diagrams, including many which are open-source and hence freely available. Here we review some of the best open source options for graphing and plotting.

Being a TA at university can be a tough job, particularly if you’re just starting out. For those of you seeking a little guidance, we’ve compiled a few tips for TAs who are assisting a professor or course instructor.

It can be hard to stay motivated surrounded by chocolate, festive lighting and tinsel garlands. With the prospect of overseas holidays, dinners with family and friends, gift-giving and an abundance of food fast approaching, whether you work or study, maintaining focus can be an issue.

With the end of the year approaching, we feel it’s time to look to the start of next year and start planning which conferences to attend. The number of events available is overwhelming, so following up on our 2014 End of Year Round Up, we decided to draft a list for the start of 2015.

Following the overwhelming interest in previous posts on free online courses in econometrics, mathematics andstatistics, as well as an article offering an overview of online professional development courses, we would now like

As the year slowly draws to a close it can be easy to focus on the work in front of us and forget about the many academic conferences still taking place around the world. Such events are a great place to build your network, boost your CV and gain new insight into your field. This list offers you a brief overview of the many conferences in banking, economics, finance and related fields that will be taking place across the globe during the last months of 2014.

Whether you’re a graduate student giving a presentation for a course or a researcher presenting at a conference, being able to give an engaging and well-prepared presentation is an invaluable skill for anyone in academia. Today, hardly a talk is given without an accompanying PowerPoint presentation full of flashy graphs, images and often far too many bullet points.

While we all know the importance of publishing widely in terms of moving forward in an academic career, what is sometimes left out of the discussion is how to make sure that your research has an actual impact in the community it is addressing, or in the world at large. If you would like your research to be read beyond the gates of the ivory tower, you need to know how to effectively promote yourself and your work.

As someone who is just catching her breath after the marathon that is applying to PhD programs, I have a few pieces of advice to share with anyone embarking on this sometimes exhausting, but hopefully worthwhile endeavor. Whether you are applying to a structured program like those typically found in the United States, an independent research PhD like those in much of Europe and elsewhere or a hybrid of the two, the first step is to gather your thoughts (and paperwork) in an effort to convince the admissions board that you are the most qualified and motivated candidate for the position.

With the start of the academic year come many changes to most university departments – new students, new courses and, every so often, a new department chair. If you happen to find yourself in the lucky position of holding this post, it’s important to be aware of the plethora of responsibilities and advantages that come with the job. In this article, we’ve gathered helpful tips and reminders from a variety of sources to create a comprehensive list of what you need to know to make the most of being a department chair.